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Kids quantified with the Nike+ FuelBand

The Nike+ FuelBand is a diminutive wristwatch-like device that records your daily activity via a set of accelerometers.

The novelty here is its LED readout and traffic light progress bar. The more you move each day the more NikeFuel points you score and the more lights illuminate on your wrist. It's quite hypnotic seeing those varying colours light up on your arm.

The FuelBand has a few more tricks up its sleeve though. It can connect to an iOS device via Bluetooth and sync your progress to the Nike+ FuelBand app. This provides graphs of your day's activity and uploads the NikeFuel you have earned to your Nike+ account.

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Where the gadget really came into its own for our family was its robust and simple design. Being both splash-proof and (pretty) shock-proof meant that we could let the kids each ware it for a day and then compare the results.

Not only did they enjoy brandishing the light-up tech throughout their day, but it was also fascinating to see the pattern of their activity and how it compared to our own. Their graph was much more varied. While mine had some peaks and troughs, theirs was much more abrupt. The pattern of lessons, break time and after-school TV introduced a staccato rhythm to their day that I was previously unaware of -- quite an eye opener.

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Since then I've been happily wearing the FuelBand, and pretty much forget it's even there -- which I count as a good thing. The battery seems to last close to the manufacturer quoted four days, although I usually plug it in overnight to charge via USB.

As a watch it's a little less successful as you have to press a button to see the time. I've often glanced at my wrist while my hands were full and been unable to activate the FuelBand. It generally feels quite comfortable and can be adjusted for different sizes. The smallest size was a little too large for the kids who ended up wearing it over their clothing.

After our little experiment the children got quite into the whole idea of NikeFuel. In fact they soon noticed the Nike+ branding on the Xbox dashboard which led to us getting hold of the Nike+ Kinect Training offering on the 360.

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This is where the FuelBand starts to outperform alternatives. By hooking in to the Xbox experience and its other running applications it sews up all the fitness tracking you need in your life. In fact it becomes the missing link stitching together these other spot-activities with the general coming and going of your day.

On the Xbox you earn points by performing Kinect tracked activities. The feedback from the game means you know when you are (and aren't) getting the different exercises correct. I found the personal goals it set for me a little on the easy side at first, but this soon ramped up as the game tracked my progress. The Xbox also became a nice way to compare the family's NikeFuel totals with its leader board feature.

Although I was a little sceptical of the NikeFuel measure to begin with, thinking it a bit gimmicky, it has actually caught on with us. In fact, the kids have got into the habit of measuring our family walks and in terms of how much NikeFuel they burn.

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Now I should say that the FuelBand is not without missed opportunities. I would have liked it to work as a readout for the main Nike+ iOS app. I'd also have liked it to be able to track distance on runs, and perhaps even pace. It would also be a neat way to notify the wearer of more general messages from a linked iPhone. But, for now at least, the FuelBand keeps it focus to doing one thing well rather than these other features.

Perhaps the biggest down-side to the FuelBand is the price. It retails £129 and is certainly not cheap (although it's not far off similar body tracking devices like the Fitbit, Jawbone Up or Armour 39). The price means that you need to be sure to take advantage of the wider elements of the Nike+ fitness universe to get real value for money. If you plan to do this, or are already using other Nike+ offerings, the FuelBand is likely to be a welcome addition.